Much media attention has focused on a remarks made by Climate Czar John Kerry last week about his alleged private jet usage. Many of Kerry’s defenders have responded by saying none of it matters, but it really does matter, and quite a bit. Here’s why.
Czar Kerry controls a reported $16.7 million budget allowing for up to 45 subordinates in an unconfirmed, unofficial assignment which has him jet-setting across the globe to discuss climate and energy issues with top officials of other governments. As this story was written, in fact, Mr. Kerry is in China meeting with Chinese communist premier Li Qiang in what he and the White House say is an effort to “stabilize the relationship” between the two countries.
Why does this relationship between the world’s two largest energy consumers require stabilizing in this particular realm? That’s because previously-ongoing bilateral talks were broken off by the Chinese after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in 2022 upset the Xi Jinping government. Kerry says he hopes to revive those discussions in part by lecturing Li about the danger of China’s ongoing massive expansion of its coal-fired electric generation fleet, among other things. Good luck with that.
While it is questionable how much credibility Czar Kerry has in China, there is also the problem of his lack of credibility back home, where his already-shaky reputation caused by decades of political dissembling took another hit during a congressional committee hearing on July 12. During that hearing, Kerry exploded in anger when confronted by Cory Mills, R-FL, over his well-documented usage of a private jet to make his global travels more luxurious.
“I just don’t agree with your facts, which began with the presentation of one of the most outrageously persistent lies that I hear, which is this private jet,” Kerry said during the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. “We don’t own a private jet. I don’t own a private jet. I personally have never owned a private jet. And obviously it’s pretty stupid to talk about coming in a private jet from the State Department up here. I just honestly, if that’s where you want to go, go.”
Of course, this was just more political dissembling on Kerry’s part. When confronted by another member of the committee, Kerry was forced to admit his wife, Teresa Heinz-Kerry, did in fact own a private jet, but that it was “sold” at some point last year. But even that was a bit of a prevarication, given that the jet was “sold” to a private charter company owned by the Kerry family.
As Fox News Digital reported in 2022, the Kerry private jet had by then been flown for “a total of 48 trips lasting more than 60 hours and emitted an estimated 715,886 pounds, or 325 metric tons, of carbon since President Biden was sworn into office.” This from a man who presumes to lecture those of us living out here in what Democrats love to refer to as “flyover country” about the need to cut our energy use and reduce our carbon footprints.
Here’s the truth about that: The Kerry jet produces more atmospheric carbon emissions in each single flight it takes than your modern gas-powered car will produce in your entire lifetime. The jet used for Kerry’s supposed commercial flight from Washington, DC all the way to China will produce many times that much carbon, probably by a factor in the hundreds.
Why does this matter, you might wonder, and it’s a good question. It matters because any government official who lectures the rest of us to change our personal behaviors, even if it’s in the name of “science,” must have personal credibility in to be effective. This is especially true of unofficial officials like Czar Kerry. Getting caught in that absurd prevarication about his private jet usage is damaging to Kerry for the very same reason why getting caught in a motel room with a floozy is damaging for a TV preacher who preys on lonely widows to send him their money to ensure their passage past the Pearly Gates.
When the country’s chief spokesman for climate alarmism, a religious exercise in and of itself, is shown to be a false prophet, it is damaging to the entire movement. That’s what happened to Czar Kerry last week, and it really does matter.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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